Clovis still searching for missing man

CLOVIS - For years, Bob Casey has been searching Clovis for recyclable cans. This weekend, most of Clovis has been searching for Bob.

Dozens of volunteers in at least three different groups on Saturday morning were combing areas between Clovis High School and Plains Regional Medical Center, hoping to find the 83-year-old man who went missing Wednesday.

"He walks around all the time. Everybody in Clovis has probably seen him walking around picking up cans. It's nothing for him to walk 3 or 4 miles every day," said Kathy Meyers, Casey's sister.

Meyers said her brother was seen at least three times on Wednesday - near his home in the 1500 block of Mitchell Street, and twice around the hospital on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

"Someone that he went to church with saw him about 11:30 (a.m. on Wednesday)," Meyers said. "He seemed fine, walking along, carrying the bag he used for cans."

About 10:30 Wednesday night, Meyers said Casey's Life Alert button was activated. Police began to search for him soon after, but he could not be located.

Casey is 6-foot-2 inches tall, weighs about 165 pounds, has gray hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray button-up shirt, black jeans and a tan hat or cap.

Meyers said her brother moved to Clovis from Amarillo in the early 1990s, soon after their mother died.

Meyers said her brother has a mild case of dementia and lifelong "special needs" issues that have never been medically diagnosed. But she said he's lived on his own for years with a nurse checking on him regularly, along with caring neighbors.

"He's done fine for Bob," Meyers said. "I just think God watches over him."

Meyers said her brother does get confused sometimes, but seems to recover quickly.

"If you spoke to him, he'd speak to you," Meyers said. "He loves little kids. He's always waving at kids and it makes his day when they wave back at him. He has a really kind heart."

Meyers said she lives in Amarillo but she and other family members visit Casey regularly, bringing him groceries, paying his bills and cleaning.

In addition to the neighbors and his nurse, she said he is a regular at West 21st Street Church of Christ near his home.

"He walks to church every Sunday morning," she said.

Meyers said family has tried to encourage Casey to stop walking Clovis' streets in search of recyclable cans, but he has declined their requests.

"He says it makes him extra money and gives him something to do and it keeps him walking, exercising."

In addition to volunteers, Meyers said police have searched the city with drones, and even a helicopter.

While most of the searches have been close to the hospital, Meyers said her brother could be anywhere.

"The biggest help would be for people to just go out in their alley and look around," she said. "A lot of people have been doing that. Everybody has been so overwhelmingly kind through all of this. I know why he wanted to live here."